Lisa Fairstein

Artist Biography:
Lisa Fairstein is an artist who constructs images that examine visual culture and the language of photography. Some group shows of note include: Welcome to the Real, curated by Marco Antonini; White Boys, curated by Hank Willis Thomas; BLOG RE-BLOG, at Signal Gallery; Dancing Queen and Under Ice at Fresh Window, and Nature Loves Courage, curated by The Wassaic Project. She has been awarded residencies through LMCC’s Swing Space program in 2013, The Wassaic Project residency in 2014, and a Pioneer Works residency in 2016. Lisa graduated in 2012 with an MFA from the School of Visual Arts. She lives and works in New York City.

Statement:I use the process of image-making to create conspicuous spaces for narratives of visual analysis. My works are studies of imaged culture and the practice of making pictures.

In my recent series “Loud Frames” I work with the tone and subject matter of the new vernacular of casual image-making. Inspired by online content and the dialogue within image-sharing, I reflect on the shared snapshot and the cultural implications of impromptu looking. In executing these images I quote from my own viewing habits as well as from the patterns of others, in terms of both theme and perspective. Some images are influenced by depictions I come across on social media, and others reference my own abbreviated gaze. The resonance of looking as an expression of “liking,” across various landscapes and virtual social spheres, is what motivates the series as a whole.

In making this work, live models and printed props act in performative sets constructed from photographic elements that blend my archive and the web. Through confusing physical states and virtual worlds, and by elaborating the instantaneity of the snapshot, I consider and complicate the casual “democratic” image, to interpret and re-interpret such forms of mediated looking.